"Therapy Dogs Help Veterans with PTSD" article
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Dogs are pretty amazing. In Fairmont, Thursday night, people had the chance to attend a service dog handler's class. These dogs help veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In a group effort between the West Virginia Service Dog Support Group, Hearts of Gold and Cummins Crosspoint, veterans were able to interact with trained dogs that help with PTSD.
"With PTSD, we actually started teaching our dogs new commands (like) 'Cover Me,' which is where the dog stands behind the person and make sure no one coming up behind them and then we also have dogs go inside rooms, search the room and then come outside to let the owner know if it's safe or not."
These classes also allow veterans to meet with the dogs who are available for foster care and at a future class, they will apply and hope to be paired with a dog.
One veteran who's already applied for a dog, said these dogs help him a lot.
"I've tried several medications and drugs and stuff, it seems like they expatriate the PTSD," said James Brennan, a veteran. "I've seen a lot of positive stories online and I can just tell coming up here every week, it just feels good."
While most of the dogs are Retrievers, any breed or mix can be used as a service dog.
